


a broken jar

by dansmithism



Category: To Kill A King (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 11:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15795366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dansmithism/pseuds/dansmithism
Summary: a damaged goods prequel: ralph meets mara.





	a broken jar

**Author's Note:**

> I really don't mean to hurt Ralph.  
> I really, really don't.

“Where are we?” Mumbled Ralph, glancing out of the car window at a tall building that was once a respectable little row of townhouses but was now nothing more than a very clear, but very tidy, squat. Blue graffiti marks infected the outside walls and the overgrown ivy seemed to cling to one corner of the building while two large, gruff-looking men stood out on the first townhouse’s front door with faces like thunder. “Dad?” He added when no initial answer came, looking over to the man in the driver’s seat. He seemed sad... Ralph had never seen his father sad. Why did he look like that?  
“Superior Bloodline’s squat.” Mumbled the elder Pelleymounter, trying hard to swallow down his emotions. “I owe them too much for me to pay, so I have to give you to them as payment instead.”  
Ralph frowned, confused. “What d’you mean?”  
“I owe those vampires money... A lot of money and the agreement was to use you as collateral... I, I didn’t think I’d have to hand you over to her. I didn’t, I didn’t think she’d add so much interest and make it worse.” Babbled his father, gripping tightly at the steering wheel.  
“Why the fuck did you use me as collateral and why do you owe them so much money?” Snapped the teenager, enraged at his father for this hefty consequence of what he so far only knew as a probable gambling debt.  
“Mara, the leader, said she would make your mother better for a price... I told her I’d pay anything she wanted and she asked if I had any children.” A pause as he swallowed down his bile. “I told her I had you and she said that if I didn’t pay her back the money then she would have to take you as a feeder as payment instead...”  
“So that’s how mum got turned? You paid a vampire cult to turn her so that she wouldn’t die? Dad, you fucking fool!” Shouted Ralph, tears pricking at his eyes when he thought of his mother, who was currently at the VTC undergoing her training. “Does she know? Eh? Dad! Does mum know about this?”  
There wasn’t a response, only the sound of his father unclipping the seat belt followed by the creak of the car’s door as he got out, slamming the door shut behind him. In a much more panicked motion, Ralph did the same, whipping the door shut with so much enraged force that the vehicle shivered before stomped over to the man who had gambled him away.  
“Answer me!” He roared, tears still threatening to fall. “Dad, does mum know about this agreement?”  
The elder Pelleymounter bit at his lower lip and looked to the ground for a few moments, bringing his gaze back up one he had sniffed, hard, and rubbed at the side of his nose a few times. He looked his son dead in the eyes and clenched his jaw. “No, she doesn’t.”  
“You fucking arsehole!” Ralph snapped, throwing himself at his father, lost in his anger. He started flailing his fists about, smacking at the elder man’s shoulder a few times before he collapsed into him and cried. “I’m never going to see her again, am I?” He whimpered between breaths while his father pulled him into a tightly held hug. “I’m not going to see her ever again.”  
“I wish it didn’t have to be like this, Ralph, I really do, but God knows what Mara would do if we didn’t do this.” Replied the terrified man, placing a comforting hand against the back of his son’s head and squeezing at his body. “I’m so sorry... I am, I’m sorry.”

 

When they had finally pushed away from one another, they locked eyes for a brief moment or two before the father lead his son up to his new home. One of the gruff men at the door grunted some form of greeting and opened the door for them, allowing them to walk across the threshold without issue. After entering the house, decorated with more blue spray paint, some string lights and reworked second-hand furniture, a fear gripped Ralph’s chest and squeezed so hard he had to inhale sharply to stop the pain. He followed his father to a room that was made to look as though it were some kind of throne room where, at the other end of the room, a woman with long, dark hair and pale skin sat posed as if she were a queen. Frightened, Ralph scanned his immediate area then, eventually, settled on the woman. This must have been Mara. She was the only female in the room that was dressed so elegantly and the only one whose very aura demanded respect, even if she wasn’t truly deserving of something so sacred.  
“Ah, you’re here!” She beamed once Ralph and his father had come to a shuffled halt a few feet away from her throne, standing up and approaching the elder Pelleymounter. “It’s good to see you again take it that this is your son, Ralph?”  
“Yeah.” Nodded the human, following Mara’s gaze as she turned her attention to his son.  
“He looks strong... And very handsome.” A comment made with an odd-sounding sort of sigh that Ralph could only place as being admiration. “My name is Mara and you, Ralph, are now my feeder. You should address me as Princess around the others but when we’re alone, you may call me by first name.” Unable to speak, the boy stiffened in her presence and glanced to his father a few times, much to her apparent amusement. “Oh, sweetie, it’s alright,” she soothed, placing a cold hand against his cheek, “you’re safe here. You’ll make for a good member of the family.” With that, she reached up and kissed his forehead. “Welcome home.”  
“Can I give him something, as we say goodbye?” Stumbled his father, fighting with another bought of emotion. “Please, his mother would want him to have it.”  
“Of course.” Nodded Mara, pulling away from her new plaything and gesturing for the two to approach one another. “Meanwhile, I’ll have Len bring in his things from the car. Did you leave it unlocked?”  
“Yes, I did... And, uhm, thank you.” Replied the father before turning to the younger human while Mara disappeared out of the room. “Take these and keep them safe...” He mumbled, handing the boy two objects; a framed photograph of a much smaller Ralph and his parents on some beach, somewhere and a ring that belonged to his mother threaded through a chain. Without hesitation, the feeder took the objects and immediately put the chain into his jacket pocket before he found himself off balanced by the force of his father’s final hug. “Remember that we love you, lad.” He whispered, striking a chord within Ralph he had never felt before because, well, his father had never uttered such words as love in the teenager’s direction in any of the seventeen years he had been on this Earth. It pained him to hear such a word for both the first and last time. It broke him.  
“I love you, too, dad.” Muttered Ralph, squeezing at his father. “Please tell mum that I love her.” He pleaded as he pulled back, searching into his eyes.  
“Of course I will.” Nodded his father, offering something of a reassuring smile. “Everything will be alright, son, don’t worry.”  
“Don’t forget me, will you?” A childish sentiment played off as a joke; something the younger Ralph would have done often whenever he was taken to his grandparents for a weekend punctuated with a sad, bitter sort of laugh.  
“How could I forget you?” His father replied, as expected and true to form, which encouraged another weak laugh from the teenager. “I’m sorry about-“  
“I’m angry, yeah, but you did it for mum... I just wish you would have told me.” Ralph sighed, briefly looking over his father’s shoulder to see Mara returning to them with one of the gruff men from outside holding all of his belongings, including his rather beaten up acoustic guitar. “Or that you’d told mum about the money arrangement.”  
“I regret many things, but doing this to you... It breaks my heart and I’m sorry.” Sniffed his father, clenching his jaw. His true final thoughts were interrupted by the image of the cult leader reappearing beside him, wearing a sickeningly sweet smile. “Goodbye, Ralph.”  
“Bye, dad.”

× × × × ×

Later that night, while holed up in his new bedroom – one he shared with Mara – Ralph had found himself alone and tending to his first ever bite wound. The experience had not been as painless as the Princess had promised him and it still hurt just to look at, let alone if he moved his arm. She had hypnotised him into some relative form of calm beforehand and that was yet another experience he had not enjoyed; it had made his stomach churn and his entire body clench for a moment until the order to relax was forcefully obeyed and he had thrown up because of the unease it gave him once Mara had finished her feed and praised him for being such a good boy for her. He had thrown up a second time once he had seen the state of his arm and the blood that quietly oozed out of the puncture marks and he was still quietly sobbing to himself as he tried his hardest to wrap his head around the scene he had just experienced. He would have to do this three or four times a day, every day, for the rest of his life and it made his heart sink to think of himself growing used to the intense pain and the mess of blood after a while. The idea of becoming desensitised to such a peculiar incident made his heart ache.   
“Shit!” He winced, wrapping a bandage around his arm with a shock-shaky hand. “Fuck!” How did trained feeders do this? How did the VTC feeders do this? How had they not gotten ill or died before their training was completed or before another new vampire bit into them? Was he weak? He must have been, even despite Mara’s insistence that he was the opposite.  
Finished with his poorly bandaged wound, Ralph laid back onto the bed and pulled his knees up to his chest and whined. He just wanted to go home. He wanted his mother, he wanted to be in his poky little bedroom playing guitar and forget that this entire thing had ever happened; to pretend that it was all just some bad dream... But this was reality and there was no changing reality.

“Oh, Ralph, sweetie!” Mara’s voice cut across the previously silent room and interrupted his thoughts and he felt one of her hands pushed through his hair. “It’s alright, my love, the first time is always horrible.” She soothed, lowering herself so that she could kiss the boy’s temple. “You’ll get used to it soon enough.” A soft brush of her nose hit his skin in a bid to reassure and soothe him some more, but it only worsened his mood and made the tightening in his chest hurt more.  
“I just want to go home.” Whined the teenager, attempting to bury his face into the duvet cover.  
“This is home, now, sweetheart,” Mara replied, continuing to pet her new feeder, “and I’m going to take care of you.”


End file.
